My Commencement SpeechDelivered on March 24 2010
At Agape Christian College of Theology
by
Norman S. LaoGREETINGS
School Director Rev. Dr. Tae Won Seo, School Director Rev. Wilson Andion, Dean of School Bishop Apolinario P. Cubing, Esteemed Teachers, Fellow Pastors and Workers in the Vineyard of the Lord, Staff, Students, and Most Especially the Graduating Class of 2010. Congratulations to all of you. And to our Korean partners and friends: Ahnyounghaseyo, Banggapsumnida. Yesunim erumaro insa deorimnida. I greet you in the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord.
INTRODUCTION
To speak to you today just before you launch out into the world to do what you were trained and equipped for at PTI and here in ACCOT is such a great honor for me. I am delighted and blessed to be part of this important milestone in your lives.
BODY
For our commencement address I would like to talk to you about Fire based on your theme: KEEP THE FLAME BURNING BEYOND 20 YEARS OF PARTNERSHIP IN MISSIONS. The Word of God in Leviticus 6:13 tells us that “The fire [of God] must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not (never) go out.”
Fire is important both in the material and spiritual worlds. We cannot do without fire. Fire is essential. On one hand, Fire makes cars go, airplanes fly, and ships glide over the water. On the other hand, the kingdom of God is established, the world transformed the kingdom of darkness is shaken by those who are on fire for God.
In Jesus’ time, as well as in ours, fire was essential. During those times fire had three very important purposes, among other things, it gave warmth, it gave light and it kept wild animals away.
These three benefits of fire are also true in the Spiritual. As long as we are on fire, that is, as long as we are zealous or passionate for God we can set others on fire as well, we can influence the world toward God and for God and we can keep that dirty devil away from us – away from our thoughts, away from our hearts and away from our deeds. In fact, nothing great was ever achieved without passion.
It’s not enough to burn – we must keep on burning. Keeping the flame burning is a personal responsibility.
There are several things we need to help keep our fire burning:
1. One of the most important things we need to keep the fire burning is FUEL. As long as you feed your fire it will not die out. It is the nature of fires to continue burning as long as there is fuel to burn. And the fuel that will keep your fire burning is your LOVE for the Lord.
There are many men and women of God who are still in the ministry but have lost their fire, their passion and they’re just going through the motions because they neglected one of the most basic ingredients of fire – fuel. Fire begins to die out when there is no more fuel.
In this respect, one of the most important things servants of God, or all Christians for that matter, should never neglect is their devotional life. That is where your power comes from, that is the source of your fire. The absence of fire in a pastor’s life is usually traceable to an empty prayer closet or a neglected Bible or both.
The Lord Jesus gave us an example to follow – although He was the Son of God -- He spent considerable time with the Father in holy communion, sometimes a whole night, before he spent time with people.
One should never be too busy in the Kingdom that one has no more time for the King.
2. The second thing we need is to remove things that will hinder the fire from burning properly.
Fire burns brighter and longer when ashes and debris are removed. Likewise, our lives will burn brighter when we are not weighed down by sin. The purer our hearts, the brighter our fires.
A passion for God is a passion against sin. It was the evangelist Billy Sunday who once said, “I am against sin. I'll kick it as long as I have a foot. I'll fight it as long as I have a fist. I'll bite it as long as I have a tooth. And when I'm old and footless, and fistless and toothless, I'll gum it until I go home to glory and it goes home to perdition." That's a passion against sin we need to cultivate in our hearts.
Remember that anything that will diminish your love for Jesus is your enemy.
3. The third thing we need to keep fires burning is OXYGEN.
Fires need oxygen. Cave explorers use fire to determine whether there is enough oxygen in a cave for breathing or not. Without oxygen fires cannot be lit and ongoing fires die out. I want to apply this in a different way today. We need oxygen to Breathe. Likewise, we need breathers in our service for God. Rest is important if we are to maintain our fire, our passion for God.
Burnout is common especially among us pastors and ministers. It is one thing to get tired IN serving God, but it’s an entirely different thing to get tired OF serving God. The former is normal, natural; the latter is a symptom of a dying fire.
When we do not know our priorities our schedules will be filled with a lot of non-essentials leaving us totally exhausted and feeling unfulfilled.
It has been said, and I agree, that the most spiritual thing to do when you are tired is to rest. In God’s infinite wisdom He decided that we need one day a week to rest. And in man’s infinite foolishness he decided that he doesn’t need rest and is suffering the consequence of that decision.
You can burn brighter when you are rested. That’s why we need to protect our day of rest with utmost jealousy. Do not fill your days with endless, and many times, purposeless meetings. You must learn to distinguish between what is essential and what is optional. A rested pastor can serve God better. The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. That looks like rest to me. Be still and know that God is. Some pastors are afraid to go on a vacation because of problems in the church. You know what? Go on a vacation and I’m sure when you return the problems will still be there! Relax! God is in control.
4. To preserve your fire you must have a FIREPLACE.
In other words, associate yourself with people on fire for God. That’s no problem here in school, but it could be a real problem when you are on your own out in the ministry. Gather members with the same passion for Christ you have. Be with passionate pastors – pastors whose passion is Jesus and the Kingdom and not something else. The more fire the better. Even the mighty Apostle Paul surrounded himself with people on fire. A list of those people is found in Romans 16.
5. Lastly, you must be ALERT against FIRE EXTINGUISHERS, THINGS THAT WOULD QUENCH THE FIRE OF THE LORD IN YOUR LIFE and there are many.
Passionate people, people on fire, are unstoppable. So the first thing the enemy will do is extinguish your fire. Christians on fire are the ones doing the greatest damage in the kingdom of darkness. Mediocre Christians damage the kingdom of God.
I have two pastor friends who both suffered a stroke. Both survived. One has become bitter and discouraged. He has lost his fire. The other I visited just recently. After an hour or so of conversation it was obvious that, though the Devil may have succeeded in paralyzing half his body, but his fire for the Lord has not diminished one bit. I went to visit him to encourage him, to love him, to comfort him. As it turned out he comforted us, he encouraged us, he strengthened us and challenged us. This coming Sunday, he is going to preach in one of their churches on his wheelchair. He remains passionate for Jesus, passionate for worship, passionate for the things of God. The Devil succeeded in paralyzing half his body, but the Devil did not succeed in quenching his fire.
There are pastors however, who may not have physical disabilities, but they have lost their fire and they have become liabilities in the Kingdom of God. They have fallen into motion without passion. I say this not in a judgmental or condemning manner. I am aware that I am not immune to these things. But I say this to give us warning that there are many who will try to quench your fire. So, guard your fire faithfully. It is my earnest prayer that none of you will fall victim to a quenched fire.
There are several FIRE EXTINGUISHERS that you must watch out for:
1. Gold. In the parable of the Sower, one group of people turned their backs on the Gospel because of the deceitfulness of riches. God’s work, done in God’s way, will never lack God’s provision. As pastors we are in a unique position. Sometimes that unique position is a dangerous position. The Love of Money has caused many fires to be extinguished. Guard your heart from the deceitfulness of riches. Remember, you cannot serve God and mammon.
2. Girls. Sexual purity is non-negotiable. Pastors must serve God with pure hearts, pure minds and pure lives. Pastors who are not careful in this area a in danger of destroying their lives, their families and their churches.
3. Glory (fame). A lot of us are not popular for a good reason. We have difficulty handling popularity, fame. Pride comes easily into our ripe and ready hearts. Most people, pastors included, can handle adversity more effectively than they can prosperity and fame. Church history gives ample testimony to this fact. The first three hundred years the church was materially poor, but it was spiritually rich. After 300 years the church succeeded in becoming acceptable and famous, persecutions stopped, but its spirituality declined. Guard your hearts from pride. Remember, apart from Christ you can do nothing. It is only because of Christ that we succeed and achieve something of value.
Never underestimate the power of little things. Goliath was killed by one small stone. David fell into adultery and murder because of one small look. Judas betrayed the Master for a handful of coins.
CONCLUSION
When the revivalist John Wesley was asked as to the secret of his success he answered: “I ask God to set me on fire and people come to watch me burn.”
Your fires were lit when you got saved and your fires were fanned into flame here in these fine institutions through your fine and passionate teachers and professors. Now it’s time to go out and set the world on fire!
Kamsahamnida. (Thank you.)
Chook boke hamnida. (God bless you.)
URGENT PRAYER REQUEST:
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